The name of Thomas Jefferson came first on the committee chosen to draw up the Declaration, and that of John Adams was second, because that was the order of the vote. This seeming sign of preference for Jefferson was not attributable to any fame, and his reputation did not match that of Franklin or Adams. At that point Jefferson was but 33 years old and, except for Robert R. Livingston, the youngest of the five member committee.
But, the resolution of independence had been introduced in the name of Virginia and the proprieties of the time called for a representative from that colony. This especially meant sense inasmuch as Virginia was the largest colony of them all. The natural person to have been selected, it would seem, was Richard Henry Lee, and some suggest he was left off due to his unpopularity. A more likely reason was that Lee expected to be able to return home soon and Jefferson was the next senior man of that delegation. This was a lucky choice in any event as, inasmuch as Lee was the better speaker of the two, he was inferior to Jefferson as a writer and thinker. Along with a record of unflinching patriotism, Jefferson had "a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent for composition" and his contemporaries had already noted his "peculiar felicity of expression".
BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN (1706-1790)
Oil, Charles Willson Peale, 1772. American Philosophical Society
The formal writings of John Adams were ponderous and
dull. Though Franklin was a highly educated man, second to none as
a coiner of aphorisms, and never boring, he would likely have put a joke
in the Declaration if it had been his task to write it. The recollections
of Adams and Jefferson differ on what occurred within the committee, though
the differences are not major. According to Adams, the committee met and
appointed he and Jefferson to a sub-committee.
Robert
R. Livingston (1746-1813)
Oil, Charles Willson Peale, 1782. Independence National Historical
Park
The Livingstons stood at the pinnicle of colonial New
York society, controlling a vast estate along the Hudson River near Albany.
Their wealth and an interlocking series of marriages with other major
families gave them great political and economic influence in the colony.
Although Robert Livingston was not a "signer" of the actual Declaration,
his cousin, Philip R. Livingston (1716-1778), was.
ROGER SHERMAN (1721-1793)Oil, Ralph Earl, circa 1777. Yale University Art Gallery.
The fifth member of the committee was Roger Sherman, of Connecticut. Born in Newton, Massachusetts, he moved to New Milford in 1743 where he was admitted to the practice of law in 1754. A member of the colonial assembly, he became a judge of common pleas in 1765 and in 1766 was assistant in the Upper House of the legislature. Later Mayor of New Haven (1784), he was instrumental in securing the ratification of the new constitution by his state.
Adams recalled that he presented to the reluctant Jefferson reasons why he, Jefferson, should draft the document:
THOMAS
JEFFERSON (1743-1826)
Oil, by Charles Willson Peale, 1791. Independent National Historical
Park.
Jefferson denied there was a sub-committee and that he was asked
by the full committee to write the draft. There appears to have been
several meetings of the whole group where the general character and form
of the document were discussed. Jefferson submitted his draft to
Adams and Franklin in advance of the others because he especially valued
their input and judgment. Suggestions of theirs were written in,
the document was accepted by the full committee, and it was presented to
Congress seventeen days after the committee had been named.
At the time, Jefferson was living in the home of the father of Frederick
Graaf, located at what is now Market and Seventh Streets, Philadelphia. A three-story
house, Jefferson had the entire second floor, consisting of a bedroom and
parlor with stairs and a passageway between them. (The home has long since
been demolished.) Apparently the Graaf home had no library, much
less a library such as the one Jefferson later maintained at Monticello.
He later wrote that he turned to neither book or pamphlet while writing
his draft. He was not straining for novelty, but as he later wrote,
was trying "to place before mankind the common sense of the subject,
in terms so firm and plain as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves
to take".
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in the home's parlor,
using a portable writing desk made by cabinetmaker Benjamin Randolph from
Jefferson's own design.
No one knows how long Jefferson labored on his draft but before June 28 he wrote what is now known as the "Rough Draft", copied from an original text that today exists only in fragments. This Rough Draft remained the master copy, with all changes noted on it.
DRAFTING
OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Oil, J. L. G. Ferris. Smithsonian Institution.
Jefferson's "Rough Draft" contains changes
labeled as those of Franklin or Adams, others in Jefferson's handwriting
that may have been thoughts of his own, and still others changed by Congress.
Scholars have counted up more than four score altogether, though most of
them are grammatical changes.
JEFFERSON's HANDWRITTEN DRAFT
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The record does not show what part Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston played in its drafting and the changes of Adams and Franklin were minor. The most important cuts were made by Congress, especially in the omission of the passage about the slave trade (on page 4). The inhumane foreign slave trade could not be blamed exclusively on George III. The South Carolinians and Georgians were not ready to end it and the New Englanders were not unaware of the share they had had in it. Most agree that the Declaration became stronger and fairer when this, Jefferson's most eloquent passage, was left out. Congress deftly deleted a passage about Scottish mercenaries which would have likely offended Scots in America as well as in Scotland.
The final paragraph was altered to include the precise language of the resolution of independence Congress had adopted. It left out several moving phrases but did not alter Jefferson's final words: "we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour".
JOHN
HANCOCK (1737-1793)
Oil by John Singleton Copley, 1765. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Congress ordered that the Declaration be authenticated and, on July 4, 1776, President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson signed it. The printing of the document was also ordered.
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